The new Israeli coalition suffered its first major test on Tuesday night. It narrowly missed the required majority in a vote to extend a law. A member of parliament from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's Yamina party was partly responsible for the failure.
The vote on the citizenship law ended in a 59:59 tie, with two abstentions. The coalition would have needed 61 votes for the required majority.
Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy (Yesh Atid) had said before the vote that Bennett viewed it as a vote of confidence: "Those who vote for the bill express confidence in the government; those who vote against it express distrust in the government."
The law was passed in 2003. It stipulates that citizens of certain nationalities cannot obtain either citizenship or permanent residency. These include Iranians, Lebanese, Syrians, and Iraqis, as well as Palestinians. There are exceptions, most of which were added between 2005 and 2007. These exceptions concern reunification with Israeli spouses and children, special humanitarian cases, and employment. Such permits are valid for no longer than six months.
“Racist demographic reasons”
Arab MP Samy Abu Shahade (Joint List) criticized the law as "racist" during the Knesset debate: "It is no coincidence that we heard no security argument. Because there is no security argument, only racist demographic reasons. Neither the coalition nor the opposition is ashamed of racism; rather, they offer all sorts of reasons why Jews are allowed to be racist, in contradiction to the very difficult history of the Jews. We are against this law; there is no room for compromise here," he is quoted as saying in a Knesset statement.
Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) appealed for approval, especially since the law had been extended every year so far: “On June 8, 2002, the government presented the Citizenship Law on behalf of the then Interior Minister Arje Deri. The application for renewal has been approved year after year. I ask the members of the coalition and the opposition to also vote in favor now.”
Two parliamentarians from the Arab coalition partner Ra'am accepted the proposal, while two abstained. Yamina MP Amichai Shikli once again proved to be a dissenter. He had already voted against the eight-party coalition. In the case of the citizenship law, he was particularly bothered by amendments that were introduced during the debate. After midnight, Shaked adjourned the proceedings to present the compromise proposal, which the coalition had reached through telephone conversations between the party leaders.
The proposal called for shortening the law's duration to six months. Additionally, it sought to grant residency permits to approximately 1,600 Palestinians. A solution was also planned for the 9,700 Palestinians living in Israel with military-issued residence permits. The motion was introduced by Member of Parliament Ibtisam Mara'ana (Avoda).
Dissenter: Would have voted for the original extension
“Tonight we received proof of the problematic nature of a government that lacks a clear Zionist majority,” Shikli said, according to the online newspaper “Times of Israel.” He said the government began the night with a one-year extension and ended it with a six-month extension. Furthermore, the number of permits issued had increased from 1,500 to more than 3,000. “Israel needs a functioning Zionist government, not a mishmash that depends on votes from Ra'am and Meretz.” He stated that he would have supported the originally planned one-year extension.
The Likud party of former Prime Minister and current opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the Religious Zionist party, generally support the law. However, they voted against its extension with the ultra-Orthodox parties and the Arab Joint List in order to embarrass the government, the online newspaper notes.
The law was originally prompted by an influx of Palestinians: From 1993 to 2003, approximately 130,000 Palestinians came to Israel through family reunification, a trend that continued even during the Second Intifada. The official primary concern was that these Palestinians might support terrorism. However, the real reasons, according to the Times of Israel, lay in demographics. The security apparatus estimates that without the law, 200,000 Palestinians would have received citizenship or permanent residency every decade. The law expires today, Tuesday.
